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Episode 1-10: Direct Breakdown
This episode marks podcast #10. In this special, AV and Peon spend the evening discussing the contents of the recent Nintendo Direct and the effects that it will have on you as a casual or competitive player. Questions How do you go about choosing a character that fits you? Peon: ' So when it comes to choosing a character that fits your playstyle, I think what I do, and I think is good advice, what I’ve learned to do over time is find whatever your weaknesses are. For me, I am the kind of person that hates to wait around. If I have to play a character that requires enormous amounts of patience that kind of wins the game with death by a thousand cuts, by slicing people with a single cut over and over again until they finally die, and playing a slow, kind of patient, neutral game. That’s not what I do. I don’t have the attention span for that. I’m too dumb, too much of a homo erectus for that, you know. I need to play characters that incentivize going in. One of the reasons why I love Cloud is because he really encourages me to wait when I don’t have limit, I have to charge limit, and that’s kind of a substitute for patience, almost. I’ve built into the character’s kit, you know. I’m incentivized, like my character is saying: ''“No, no Peon, it’s cool. Just stand still. I’ll give you some limit. It’ll be worth it, trust me.” That really helped me. I found a character that really kind of negated my natural tendencies. Maybe you’re not very technical, no matter how much time you spend in the lab. You just can’t seem to get those crazy Sheik perfect pivot combos down. Okay, fine. Play a character that doesn’t utilize as much tech skill in the combo game. You know, play a character that has a pretty straightforward combo. Cloud fits that too. You know what, maybe just play Cloud. Maybe play Jigglypuff or Donkey Kong, even though he has relatively less. Donkey Kong still has his stuff but not to describe Donkey Kong players but maybe Sheik is for you. I would say, find your weaknesses, find your strengths, and find a character to gauge your weaknesses. Find one that really accentuates your strengths. '''When the direct comes out, are you disappointed in anything that is revealed, and why? AV: Well, direct is out. Am I disappointed from anything? Not inherently. I think initially, just because the leak was so ridiculously filled with lots of character diversity that I was expecting, at least, maybe four characters. I was initially disappointed but now I think I’ve kind of recovered from that and I’m super excited. I’m just really excited again and even just over the course of this podcast I’ve become even more excited about the game. Peon, what do you think? Peon: I think I mentioned earlier the Wi-Fi Situation. I’m still not super confident about the online space in this game. Other than that, no. I’m not too disappointed by anything. I mean, maybe I would have liked to see my girl Dixie. I’ll keep saying that, but no, I’m not too disappointed beyond anything I mentioned earlier. Going into Ultimate, how are you going to choose a main? Are you going to find a top-tier right off the bat, play a character you’ve played previously, or find a character that suits your play style? AV: I think this kind of falls in with the question previously asked, but maybe we can elaborate on it. Peon: Sure, I’ll focus on the beginning part of it. How are you going to choose who to main with in the beginning? I know, on a kit basis, the characters I tend to gravitate towards, right. So, expanding on what I mentioned earlier, negating your weaknesses and really accentuating your strengths. Whatever characters those are currently for your, I would suggest trying the current new game’s engine. See if they still apply to you. See what characters you feel are in a good state in this new game that you already know their kit already compliments your mindset and your playstyle. With that said, I really want to try some of the new characters. I’ve already accomplished things with these other characters that I’ve done. I’ve already reached all my goals as Cloud and as Falcon. I’ve already fought those battles. They’re kind of in the past for me, so I’m definitely going to try to play them, because I know their kits compliment my playstyle, like I’ve been saying. I do what to try King K. Rool and maybe some other characters from an aesthetic standpoint and see if their playstyle happens to fall in line with my preferences. If they do, maybe I’ll really explore that option assuming they are good. I’m a competitive player, so I’m only going to play a character that’s pretty good. I would suggest you guys do the same. What do you think AV? AV: I think I’m going to approach in a very similar way. I did promise a friend that I would play Sheik at the very beginning of the game. Sheik is the character I’ve played at the very beginning of every game. I played Sheik at the beginning when I first started playing Melee. I played Sheik when I first started playing Brawl, and I mained Sheik for one and a half years in Smash 4. Peon: Who was your 64 main? AV: I did not play 64. Peon: Ever? AV: I played once when I was really young and I don’t really count that. Peon: That’s crazy! I know what we’re doing next time you come over. AV: Alright, next time I come over I’m playing some 64, but yeah, I think I’ll be maining Sheik in Smash Ultimate for the very beginning and then we’ll see where it goes from there. I’m someone who plays a ton of characters so I’ll probably just pick up all the top tiers and then just kind of figure out what’s going to be enjoyable to me. But, yes, I will be sticking with one character for a while, just so I can learn the game and all of its mechanics consistently. I think it’s important. It’s really important if you want to improve super fast, you should figure out a character super fast. You should try them all and then figure out one and stick to it. Then you can learn all of the game and the fundamentals. You’re building up the house, you’re building up the fundamentals, so if you want build that up, you’ve got to stick with one character. Learn everything that’s external to your character so you don’t have to worry about different variables within characters. Then start building up your experience with all of these characters. That’s what I’d recommend. If you’re casual, just do whatever you want. I know I’m going to be doing a mix of these two approaches and I will definitely be playing a bunch of characters that I’m super excited for, like Snake and Ridley. If you lose a lot of sets last hit to players in your region, what steps do you take to get over that hump? AV: So, here’s the thing, like we’ve said in the past. Those top players have been in that situation way more than you have. Assuming that they’ve been playing for longer, which is usually the case. So, you just have to be in that situation more. The more times you are in that situation, the more you’re used to it. You’re brain will start to disassociate the fear and anxiety that comes with being in a last hit, last stock situation. Eventually there’ll be a point where you’re confident in your play to the point that it’ll just flow. Reaching this point of flow is an entire episode in itself, and we will cover that. Other than that, sometimes you just get lucky. However, it’s important to know that if you're lucky, if you get that random footstool, you go for that rando dash attack and it somehow works, take note of that. Don’t rely on it because once you start relying on it, once you get that super crazy upset doing a dash attack in neutral randomly, you’re going to start doing it in other matches because your brain got the positive feedback from it. Don’t do it and don’t give in to bad tendencies just because you’re rewarded for them. Make sure you recognize that. Peon: I just want to chime in because I love this question. It comes to three things in my mind. One, like you said, the other player has been in the situation more than you have, if they’re a top player and you’re not, so they have that advantage right there. Two, if they’re a better player than you, then, statistically speaking, in the last scenario, they’re going to outplay you if they are a better player than you. On average, they’re going to play better in that situation. If you were a betting man you would say that person’s going to win the encounter. Three, it could be a lot, like your heart could be beating in that situation. Maybe you are against Zero and thinking: “All I have to do is beat Zero in this one neutral interaction and I will win.” It’s a lot of pressure on yourself. You get nervous, you start throwing stuff away, you start playing uncalm. Focus on what you can control. Really focus on the game and try to strip the factors outside of the game. What contextualizes the match outside of the game? Strip that all away. It’s much harder to do than to say, but take away all the context from the match and just focus on the characters on screen. If you’re about to beat Zero, don’t think about Zero. Think about that Diddy Kong. Think about what options he has in the situation, what options you have, and just try to outplay them in that one moment and be better than them. How do you deal with toxic players? Like if they say I hate X character or I’m so bad? Peon: Peon: When it comes to toxic players, I just think it’s kind of funny that they’re toxic. I don’t really get too bothered by it. If you play Cloud and someone is saying: “Man I hate Cloud." That’s good. I’d say let that fuel you. Look it like you are good enough to make that person hate Cloud. If I get that kind of hate, then my Cloud must be really sick. Do you think that’s an oversimplification AV? AV: I think it’s one way to think about it. Not everyone’s like that. For you, that is a natural way of dealing with it. If someone’s being mean about your character and trying to pin all of your skill on a certain character, or trying to take something away from you using techniques like this or that, basically say “I’m going to feel myself because if you’re complaining, it just means I’m doing well.” It’s a good way to think about it as long as you’re not feeding back negative energy into the community. I think it’s fine as long as you can have this internal dialogue. In the community I have had to deal with toxic players as a TO and as a competitive player. There are two types of toxic players: # Reformable # Beyond reformable 99% of the cases are actually reformable toxic players. You just have to show compassion towards them. You don’t feel like you should and no one ever tries to do that, but there are people that are very redeemable and are just going through something or they are just really frustrated by something that could just be fixed by just listening to them or trying to understand their point of view. There are some people that are unredeemable, and I don’t like saying that but they will not respond to any type of emotional stimuli. Those people you just have to ignore them and don’t interact with them when you don’t have to. Navigation Home | Closing Q&A